Last week's season premiere of America's Next Top Model brought something a little different to the fashionable catwalk. Elina, a super-hot Seattleite, is a vegan who is very involved with animal rights! In fact, she went vegan at the age of 7 and has since dedicated her life to avenging the cruelty done to animals in this world. The 18-year-old is the first vegan to appear on ANTM, which is now in its 11th cycle.

As an avid fan of the show, I must admit that I've been a bit bummed that a few episodes have featured fur and leather in some of the shoots, especially since Tyra doesn't wear it and the lovely and lovable Nigel Barker is staunchly anti-fur! How MUCH do we love him?!

We were also bummed when the models were asked to pose wearing meat. Then again, meat is so gross we think that we might have gotten a few extra vegetarians out of it—hope springs eternal. When asked by Tyra if she would have been able to participate in the slaughterhouse photo shoot, Elina unwaveringly said "No!"

It will no doubt be interesting to see what Tyra throws Elina's way this season. We wish you the best of luck, Elina. Go rock the runway with vegan style!

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Did anyone catch the America’s Next Top Model last night, where the models wrapped themselves in meat and paraded around a slaughterhouse? I honestly don’t know what to say about this, except, like, please don’t do that anymore, ANTM. You’re going to alienate a lot of viewers who care about animals.

Fortunately, we have a Communications Department for these sorts of occasions, and (thankfully) they’re way more articulate than I am. So here’s PETA’s official response to the ill-conceived show for those who have been writing in about it:

No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal. Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that’s the look they were going for—they achieved it. Instead of swathing models in meat, we wish they had followed in the footsteps of PETA pinups Pamela Anderson and Alyssa Milano who show off their “natural beauty” in outfits made of lettuce leaves for PETA’s “Let Vegetarianism Grow on You” ad campaign.

dListed has pics and details.